Stanislaus State continues to amass national recognition for its academic excellence, affordability and preparing scholars for their future careers as MONEY Magazine announced today the University earned the No. 5 ranking on its “Most Transformative Colleges” list.
The University maintained the No. 5 spot for a second year. Stan State is one of 13 California State University campuses ranked on the publication’s annual transformative colleges list and is the second highest-ranking CSU after San José State University, which earned the No. 1 spot.
Stan State ranked higher than any other four-year university in California’s Central Valley. The Most Transformative Colleges list recognizes universities where students beat the odds by exceeding expectations based on their academic and economic backgrounds, referred to as a college’s “value add.” The publication ranked campuses based on scores for graduation rates, earnings and student loan repayment, eliminating schools with below-average scores.
MONEY estimates Stan State’s graduation rate of 58 percent is 40 percent higher than at universities with similar student demographics. Additionally, recent Stan State graduates report average salaries higher than their peers from similar universities.
In its hallmark “Best Colleges for the Money” category, Stan State placed at No. 55 overall and No. 35 among public schools.
The MONEY rankings come on the heels of The Princeton Review’s inclusion of Stan State on “Top 386 Colleges” list for a 15th straight year. In that publication, Stan State was one of only three CSUs to make the list and joined UC Merced as the only two four-year universities from the Central Valley to be honored.